Residence requirements for ABSTUDY 010-02030020

A customer has lodged a claim for ABSTUDY. To qualify for ABSTUDY, the student or Australian Apprentice must be:

• be an Australian citizen,
• normally living in Australia, and
• studying or completing their Australian Apprenticeship in Australia or approved to study or complete their Australian Apprenticeship overseas

There is no specific lodgement requirement although it is assumed that the person would generally be in Australia.

Is the student or Australian Apprentice an Australian citizen?

• Yes, and the ABSTUDY customer normally lives in Australia, go to Step 2
• Yes, and the ABSTUDY customer does not normally live in Australia, then they do not meet the residence requirements for ABSTUDY assistance. Procedure ends here
• No, the customer is not entitled to ABSTUDY assistance. Advise the customer of other Services Australia administered payments for students or Australian Apprentices. See Identifying the most beneficial payment for students or Australian Apprentices. Procedure ends here

Evidence of Australian citizenship is required for new students and Australian Apprentices applying for ABSTUDY assistance who were born overseas if they have not previously provided evidence.

• Yes, the customer may be required to provide evidence of Australian citizenship if they have not previously done so. Go to Step 3
• No, the customer is an Australian citizen born in Australia or its external territories and therefore is not required to provide proof of citizenship.
  Go to Step 8

The new claim process will attempt a datalink with the Department of Home Affairs. If successful and the information is available, the datalink will automatically record a customer's grant of Australian citizenship. See Activating the Immigration Datalink.

Where information is automatically recorded by the Department of Home Affairs datalink, a channel code next to the information will be recorded with 'IMM'. When immigration data has been recorded manually by Centrelink International Services (CIS) staff, a channel code of IMC is recorded.

Australian citizenship is confirmed when:

• An Australian passport is on the RSIMME screen and the channel is IMM or IMC, or
• Australian citizenship is on the Legal Residence Details (RSLEG) screen and the channel is IMM or IMC

Has Australian citizenship been confirmed?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 4

To check if evidence of Australian citizenship has previously been provided and/or verified go to the:

• Proof of Identify (POI) screen or POI Historical Details (POIH) screen and check if 'AC' or 'AP' has been recorded
• If yes, Australian citizenship certificate and Australian passport has been previously provided. No further evidence is required
• Residence Savings (RSS) screen and check the Aust citizenship verification ind: field
• If 'Y' has been recorded, then citizenship has been verified by Centrelink International Services (CIS) staff and no further evidence is required

Acceptable evidence of Australian citizenship for customers not born in Australia includes:

• original Australian birth certificate or extract
• Australian passport
• verification of Australian citizenship from Australia's immigration department, or
• Australian citizenship certificate or official copy

Has the student or Australian Apprentice provided evidence of their citizenship?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 6

See Proof of Australian citizenship for further details on documents used to  prove Australian citizenship.

• Yes, the customer meets the Australian citizenship requirement.
  Go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 6

If the customer is unable to provide appropriate evidence of Australian citizenship a request can be sent to Centrelink International Services (CIS) to arrange verification from Australia's immigration department. See Proof of Australian citizenship for details how to request verification.

If a request has been sent to CIS, hold the new claim or activity until a response has been received from CIS. If CIS is able to verify citizenship they will record the Aust citizenship verification ind: field on the Residence Savings (RSS) screen.

Has CIS verified citizenship for the customer?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, advise the customer that if they cannot supply acceptable evidence, they are not entitled to ABSTUDY assistance. Go to Step 7

Check the other Services Australia administered payments for students or Australian Apprentices. See: Identifying the most beneficial payment for students or Australian Apprentices.

Procedure ends here.

The student or Australian Apprentice meets the residence requirement for ABSTUDY assistance. Check the other general ABSTUDY eligibility criteria.